Knights outplay Indians at crosstown volleyball game

The St. Mary’s volleyball team hosted the Sleepy Eye Indians on Sept. 10 where the Knights came out on top and won three sets to one.

The St. Mary’s volleyball team hosted the Sleepy Eye Indians on Sept. 10 where the Knights came out on top and won three sets to one.

St. Mary’s got a quick lead to start the first set after it took advantage of several errors made by the Indians. The Knights had better control of the ball and had a 6-7 point lead throughout, and ended with a dominant 25-12 first set win.

St. Mary’s started strong in the second set but made their share of mistakes, which wasn’t a good thing for the Knights as Sleepy Eye Public seemed to finally warm up and was able to take the lead halfway through. Senior Claire Krumbach had multiple kills to lead the Indians and made St. Mary’s scramble with her short serve technique. The Knights were able to tie it at 22-22, but then made three errors in a row which gave Sleepy Eye the second set, 25-22.

The beginning of the third set was a back-and-forth battle on both sides, until St. Mary’s pulled away and had an eight-point lead at one point. The Indians struggled in this set as they made many errors while the Knights had great ball placement and solid defense.

Twenty-three of the 25 points won by St. Mary’s in the fourth and final set of the night were due to errors by Sleepy Eye Public. Indians Head Coach Nicole Jensen was disappointed with the numerous errors her team committed.

“We weren’t controlling the ball, it was all errors,” Jensen said. “We cannot win games making that many errors.”

Although the Indians made so many errors, they were still able to tie the fourth set multiple times, showing determination despite the mistakes. But all St. Mary’s had to do was hit the ball over the net and wait for the error, which is what they did and were able to win it 25-19.

Bethany Berkner led the Knights with 29 set assists while Hayley Neid had nine digs to lead the defense. Becca Schmitz recorded four aces on the night. Meanwhile, Krumbach led the Indians with 10 kills. Sleepy Eye moves its record to 2-5 while St. Mary’s goes to 6-3.